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It's time we all became eco-warriors for water

We're cleaning up our act when it comes to water – now a small shift in attitudes could go a long way

AF archive/Alamy

IN Frank Herbert’s science fiction classic, Dune, the inhabitants of the titular desert planet survive by wearing “stillsuits” that recycle every drop of water they excrete, coupling ecological temperament with martial discipline.

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But we do need to act. Between rising population, megacities, pollution and climate change, the next few decades will see water stresses on a vast scale. The grave difficulties already apparent in the western US and Australia will afflict many more areas of the world. Ethiopia is gripped by the worst drought in decades; with it comes the spectre of famine.

Water conservation poses technical challenges, too. For example, it’s difficult to clean up used water, so rather than reclaim useful substances – nitrates or phosphates, say – we throw them away. We may also assume, without particularly convincing evidence, that pollutants are diluted enough to pose no risk to human or environmental health. But enough suspicion lingers that few people would call recycled water their drink of choice.

We will still need to grapple with booming demand. That means doing a better job of public education about water use, and being tougher on rampant exploitation of scarce resources. You might call it the stillsuit mentality: fierce, perhaps, but better an eco-warrior mindset now than water stress giving way to water wars in future. And better frugality today than life eked out on a parched planet tomorrow.

This article appeared in print under the headline “The stillsuit mentality”